Anyway, this week brings us the introduction of Shirokane Ginka’srather comical father… and with it, some insight into the tragic past she had prior to joining Sefiro Fiore in the first place. It was a tad bit surprising that they addressed the whole benefactors bit in terms of how the organization keeps running, but for the most part, the episode ended up mostly predictable in terms of Honda’s fall into temptation (and subsequent dispatch via Ginka’s hands). In that sense, this episode continues the kind of “Daemonia of the week” trend we’ve been getting since the start, but the notable bit here is how we’re starting to get some additional pieces of the puzzle in terms of the grand scheme.

Adding on to the aforementioned revelation of benefactors, it’s also noted that Akari’s “stronger emotional pulse” allows her thoughts to materialize more readily while in the Astralux. Thus, touching her lets one hear her thoughts, and it was quite interesting to see the kind of dilemma this “gift” introduces to the equation when your opponent is someone you know. In that respect, being able to hear what they say could undoubtedly be more of a curse than anything, and it makes one ponder the “ignorance is a bliss” quote. Some things are better off not being known—at least, in some cases—and one wonders if the identity of those involved (and their back stories) may be one of them. Arguably it adds another layer of mental stress and pressure on top of things, and for some of our cast, it may be more of a distraction than anything.

With that said, it makes me wonder at this point if this ability isn’t so much to indicate there’s another way to deal with the Daemonia as it is something more to be taken at face value—that is, something that’s there purely to let the girls hear the last words of those that give in to temptation. In that regard, Akari’s ability may be more significant in how the girls become a kind of living record—keepers of memories that others will forget and of proof that the people possessed lived in the first place. It’s an interesting perspective to ponder to say the least, and it’s something that truly gives meaning to the many images we see of the cast in graveyards, as they’re both grave keepers and grim reapers in their own right.

As such, I’m beginning to get the sense that a lot of what we see may be intentionally made so that they seem predictable, and that the future will give us something that ultimately links everything together in a potentially spectacular way. Of course, part of that belief is somewhat due to my own hopes for this series more than anything, but at the very least, it feels like there is enough brewing in the background to give us something worthwhile before it’s all said and done. At this point it’s likely not going to be Madoka in any sense of the word—despite some similarities in terms of the distinctive visual style within the Astralux and the tragic, dark nature in a variety of developments—but it could be impressive in its own right, even if it seems to be lacking some of the “passionate vision” Stilts mentioned previously.

Last but not least, one other thing to note was how both Ginka and her father both can no longer live without being surrounded by stuff. As they mention themselves, it’s a byproduct of their past and how they’d otherwise be unable to stop worrying about not being able to buy anything again, and it’s significant in its emphasis on how the past still shapes how they live in the present. And just as the past led them to this day, it also led (literally via genetic lineage) the other girls to Sefiro Fiore too, and arguably, it was the past that led the individuals in the past five episodes to fall into temptation too. Notably, it’s the past too that holds many memories, and there’s definitely a lot to be said in terms of how Genei seems to focus on “time” in general, as there’s both this focus on the past and via fortune telling/tarot card readings, the future too.

Author’s Note: Just taking the reigns from Stilts this week due to him being busy. I’ll be sliding back to providing the screencaps when he returns next week.

I can see why some people would think this. And honestly, the thing is, even if it does end up being one, the fact remains that Madoka was so above and beyond that being a “poor’s man Madoka” may not end up being a bad result at all.

For what it’s worth, I think the show is continuing to do a solid job on the negative spin of the role of a ‘magical girl’ with it being more of a curse or burden than anything else. I’m glad there seems to be commitment to this ‘Savior or Executioner?’ approach that they pushed in the initial PV’s for Day Break Illusion.

But I think we have one more, at best, of these ‘daemonia of the week’ episodes left before we dive headfirst into the overall plot concerning Cerberus, that fortune teller boy and everything else.

I’m with Stilts (and probably many here) that this production will not be squandered. I don’t know if I can handle another Guilty Crown, except unlike Guilty Crown where a lot of its promise was squandered due to lack of a clear theme they wanted to go with, whereas this I would worry it didn’t have the ability to properly execute its grand message or moral. We have good themes in the show already, the whole savior/executioner thing mentioned earlier, the thing concerning the tree of life each person has and how the daemonia literally infect and consume it, the visuals in the tarot world and all the imagery in the opening theme and hints of something greater…

What I’m saying is we’re nearing the halfway point and I seriously hope to god they’re going to at LEAST start putting the pieces in place for the finale soon

OK, some background on Ginka, Ginka-related victim of the week, and a bit more of reveal at the opposing forces.
We can see how her past has created Ginka we see. She is carefree, cheerful and quite resilient. It seems that past troubles have hardened her, and she finds even the plight of Magical Girl as a lucky compared to living as penniless pauper. She is also a quite a “bridge” character as she somehow manages to reconcile Akari’s will to listen to Daemonia, with Seira’s desire to kill them – though her motive is rather sort of “putting off their misery” “than “passing judgement onto them”.
Now I want a Seira-centric episode to see what has made her into such knight templar (T)!
Furthermore, we can see that people possessed are still there within Daemonia, and it is not beyond imagination that some kind of way to rescue them can be found. This would be definitely a great way for a positive ending for the series.
Last but not least we can see that our enemies include some sort of influential businessman using Daemonia in his quest of power, and a shapeshifting entity which , for lack of better definition, I’d name a Daemonia Prince. I think there is a big potential here for backstabbing as both sides of the unholy alliance seem to despise other…

Mh. I think by now it’s clear that this show, despite its dark setting and window dressings, is pretty much a standard mahou shoujo playing with ‘edginess’. It already displays all the trademarks. To whit:

(1)An unequivocably evil opposing force.
After two straight episodes of poor suffering folks being manipulated into a deal with the devil – and with this episode having the victim’s ‘intrinsic good nature’ all but shoved into the viewers’ faces – it’s pretty clear that the enemy they’re fighting is malevolent… heck, said enemy is even working with Evil Business. The theme of humans becoming ‘demons’ due to the darkness of their own heart has been diluted into a thin film at best. The Monster of the Week format it seems to be settling into doesn’t help.

(2)A largely SoL tone (cute being cute) that flips over into Edgy&Dark as necessary
I’m fairly certain more than one person will have noted the tonal dissonance between different parts of the show, which is something that’s been notable arguably since episode 2. The direction and writing both feel classic mahou shoujo in the former, and only marginally less so in the latter, because, frankly, the writing simply isn’t up to snuff. The moment Honda’s money troubles were mentioned no one should have been surprised what eventually happened to him, and the ‘one-episode development’ format for Ginka – where everything about her is shoved into one episode, which I’m certain anime viewers are familiar with – just further made the whole thing come off as cheap at best, and a blatant attempt at emotional manipulation at worst. Excellent direction that maintained a consistent tone was one strength of Madoka Magica, as well as an actual sense of mystery and anticipation. Neither of those apply here.

…I could go on, but it would probably be dead horse flogging at this point. I think this show has pretty much pigeonholed itself, and might not in fact have had any particularly large ambitions in the first place – and at the very least it’s still got a reasonably sensible narrative, unlike, say, Rinne no Lagrange, which plunged full on into writers not knowing how to write themselves out of their corner in its second season. I just don’t believe this will be anything special, and at this point, any attempt to depart from the formula they’ve set for themselves will probably feel like Mai-HIME redux.

Anyone else find it odd our villain (the little boy) casually morphs into a little girl? I find that an odd choice. And his ‘boss’ asked him to dress differently.

Very entertaining show. Well written blog piece here. Good work goes to the author here. I love coming to this site you guys are great! I agree it doesn’t seem ‘epic’ like Madoka anime was but I’m still anticipating good stuff here.